Jan 05 2022 29 mins
The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched hospital resources and staffing to their breaking point. Even before the pandemic hit, there were vulnerabilities, but the pandemic has exposed them. Fifteen months after the first COVID patients began filling hospital beds, frontline healthcare clinicians were showing increased signs of exhaustion and compassion fatigue – symptoms of burnout. At that time, an undocumented, COVID-positive man was transferred to the Wellstar Kennestone Intensive Care Unit. It quickly became evident that there was something special about this patient.